Chapter 56: 5th Pokemon Joins the Team (Patreon)

Renan kept scratching the ticklish spots of the Pokémon on the table. "Shinx, do you live in this area all by yourself?" he asked softly.

"Meow~" Shinx let out a cry, looking like it had decided that since it couldn't resist, it might as well try to enjoy itself.

It hadn't learned Telepathy yet, so Renan turned to look at his Pokémon, who had gathered beside him at some point.

They answered for Shinx, each giving a nod.

The meaning was obvious. Shinx really had no pack. It might never have met its parents at all, not since the day it was born.

Once that sank in, the corners of Renan's mouth curled up. "Hey~ what a coincidence. I happen to need an Electric-type Pokémon, and you, Shinx, are all alone in this area."

"So how about it? Want to become my partner?" As he spoke, he took out a Poké Ball and held it up in front of Shinx.

He kept coaxing. "Once you join the big family, things are different from the wild. I'll take care of all your meals from now on, and I'll design special training for your situation to help bring your strength up."

"In exchange, whenever there's a battle or a match, you'll need to follow my commands and win it for me."

"What do you say? Are you willing?"

Renan withdrew his Confusion and waited for an answer.

Shinx hadn't been alive long, but it had seen human Trainers and their Pokémon before. It knew very well what becoming this boy's partner would mean.

It lowered its head and thought for a few seconds.

Then it seemed to make up its mind. Of course, it might also have been tempted by the smell drifting over from the stove not far away. Its nose lightly bumped the button of the Poké Ball, and its whole body turned to red light and was drawn inside.

Since Shinx had gone in entirely of its own will, the Poké Ball didn't shake even once.

One second later, the "ding" that signaled a successful capture rang out.

Seeing that, even Renan couldn't keep his mouth from curving upward. Then he raised the Poké Ball in a slightly cringey pose. "I caught Shinx!"

…

The newest member of the team really did have excellent aptitude.

Through the Pokédex, Renan found that while it didn't match Charmeleon or Shellder, it had still inherited an egg move, Baby-Doll Eyes, and had also learned Scary Face ahead of schedule.

As for the Ability it had innately expressed, it was without a doubt Intimidate. The only pity was that the Pokédex couldn't show how far an Ability had been developed.

A Trainer had to gather that data and confirm it personally. Then again, that was only normal. The Pokédex was just a tool the League had made to help mainline Trainers grow quickly from beginners. Truly advanced knowledge wasn't so easy to come by.

Like Shellder, Shinx wouldn't be sent into any matches for at least the next two weeks. Renan planned to feed it well for a while first and let it get all the way through its infancy.

Only after that would it start some simple training alongside Charmeleon and the others.

With the goal of acquiring an Electric-type Pokémon achieved, Renan and Misty had no reason to stay at the Power Plant any longer.

Early the next morning the two of them packed their bags and took the highway back to Cerulean City.

Misty was a girl, after all. She had been stuck in the wilds for several days, and even though she washed up properly every night, she still felt uncomfortable somewhere no matter what.

Renan also wanted to restock on supplies. After some thought, he spent another day at the Pokémon Center to recover and reset.

It was the afternoon of the third day before the two of them finally reached Mt. Moon.

Mt. Moon was the largest source of Moon Stones in the Kanto region.

Nearly every day, Trainers came here to try their luck digging for them.

The League didn't stop this. Apart from a few veins that produced Moon Stones reliably, no other areas were off-limits to Trainers or Pokémon digging, on one condition: they must not collapse the caves used for passage.

With Dragon Tamer Lance at his back, Renan never really lacked resources as long as he could swallow his pride and ask.

At the very least, his predecessor's Elite Four uncle had already mailed over the supplies needed to raise the three little ones to Elite class.

But Renan now had two more Pokémon to raise.

Even leaving aside the type gems, which could speed up a Pokémon's growth, the high-quality held items and evolution stones alone, the kind that raise a Pokémon's potential ceiling once absorbed, meant he still had to prepare one each of a Water Stone, King's Rock, Metal Coat, Thunder Stone, and Magnet.

And Renan hadn't forgotten himself, either.

He had crossed over into the Pokémon world intending to raise his five attributes as high as he possibly could.

The trouble was that the resources for raising Pokémon had been scarce to begin with. Diverting a share of them would very likely have left him wanting both sides and failing at both plans.

But now...

With Misty, Nidorino, and Charmeleon at his side, Renan walked toward the depths of the cave, spreading out his mental force as he went.

After about two hundred meters he suddenly stopped and pointed at the rock wall to his front right. "Charmeleon, use Dig over there."

"Roar!"

Light the color of yellow earth flared on Charmeleon's claws. In the blink of an eye it had dug a hole into the hard wall, big enough for itself to crawl through.

Misty had heard her traveling companion mention his plan beforehand, so Renan's odd behavior didn't leave her baffled.

If anything, a flicker of anticipation crossed her face.

About ten minutes later, Charmeleon crawled out of the hole it had dug.

In both hands it cradled a stone the color of jade, though its shape was none too regular.

"Roar~"

Charmeleon held the stone out like it was presenting a treasure.

Renan took it, smiled, and patted its head. "You did great."

After a quick check, Misty said, "It's a mid-grade Moon Stone. Sold to a Poké Mart, it'd fetch 8,000 in League currency."

8,000 in League currency was roughly two months of an ordinary person's wages.

For Renan, even counting the earlier scouting, it had taken only half an hour.

All you could say was that the combination of a high-rank psychic and a Pokémon Trainer was just a little too imba.

Renan's brow arched at that.

According to the books, low-grade and mid-grade evolution stones could also raise the aptitude of the related type of Pokémon, but only up to a cap of Lv20 and Lv30 respectively.

For the many Trainers aiming to become Pokémon Masters, they were a chicken rib: not worth much, yet a shame to throw away.

So Poké Marts and department stores didn't price those two grades high. Low-grade stones sold for 3,000 and mid-grade for 10,000.

Their buying prices were lower still, at 2,000 and 8,000 respectively.

However, once an evolution stone reached high grade, it became hard currency in the truest sense.

Poké Marts would only buy them and no longer sold them. The points required to exchange for one on the League forum also shot up to 500, which converted to League currency came to 500,000.